Public Release: 19-May-2014 Current BiologyHow octopuses don't tie themselves in knots revealed by Hebrew University scientists
Hebrew University of Jerusalem researchers have discovered how octopuses avoid getting tangled up in themselves. Their results suggest that a chemical signal in octopus' skin inhibits sucker grabbing so that octopuses don't grab onto themselves. The researchers hope their findings will lead to new classes of robots and control systems, and are sharing their findings with European Commission project STIFF-FLOP, which aims to develop a flexible surgical manipulator in the shape of an octopus arm.
European Commission EP-7 projects STIFF-FLOP and OCTOPUS

Public Release: 19-May-2014 Geophysical Research LettersAntarctica's ice losses on the rise
Three years of observations show that the Antarctic ice sheet is now losing 159 billion tonnes of ice each year -- twice as much as when it was last surveyed.
Natural Environment Research Council

Public Release: 18-May-2014 Nature GeoscienceCutoff switch may limit spread, duration of oxygen minimum zones
A new study examining the impact of iron released from continental margin sediments has documented a natural limiting switch that may keep these ocean systems from developing a runaway feedback loop that could lead to unchecked hypoxic areas, or persistent 'dead zones.'
National Science Foundation

Public Release: 18-May-2014 Nature GeoscienceGreenland will be far greater contributor to sea rise than expected
Greenland's icy reaches are far more vulnerable to warm ocean waters from climate change than had been thought, according to new research by UC Irvine and NASA glaciologists. The work, published today in Nature Geoscience, shows previously uncharted deep valleys stretching for dozens of miles under the Greenland Ice Sheet.

Public Release: 16-May-2014 ScienceResearchers call for better ocean stewardship
NSU researcher Tracey Sutton, Ph.D., joins colleagues from organizations around the world who specialize in studying and exploring the deepest regions of our oceans to pen a cautionary tale that urges we take a critical look at how we're treating our seas.

Public Release: 15-May-2014 Geological Society of America BulletinOn the shoulder of a giant: Precursor volcano to the island of O'ahu discovered
Researchers recently discovered that O'ahu, Hawai'i, actually consists of three major Hawaiian shield volcanoes, not two, as previously thought. Extending almost 100 km WNW from the western tip of the island of O'ahu is the submarine Ka'ena Ridge, a region that has now been recognized to represent a precursor volcano to the island of O'ahu, and on whose flanks the Wai'anae and Ko'olau Volcanoes later formed.
National Science Foundation

Public Release: 15-May-2014 Proceedings of the Royal Society BThe color of blood: Pigment helps stage symbiosis in squid
The relationship between the Hawaiian bobtail squid and the bacterium Vibrio fischeri is well chronicled, but writing in the current issue of the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, a group led by University of Wisconsin-Madison microbiologists Margaret McFall-Ngai, Edward Ruby and their colleagues adds a new wrinkle to the story.
Marie Curie Actions, National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health

Public Release: 15-May-2014 Journal of African Earth SciencesRichest marine reptile fossil bed along Africa's South Atlantic coast is dated at 71.5 million years ago
New research at Southern Methodist University, Dallas, is the first to tie the stable carbon isotope record of Africa's South Atlantic coast to global records. This record clarifies the age of rocks at Bentiaba, Angola. The work provides a 71.5 million year age for the richest marine reptile fossil bed along the South Atlantic. The new record of time represents nearly 30 million years of Cretaceous fossils and environments in the ancient South Atlantic Ocean.
National Geographic Society, Petroleum Research Fund

Public Release: 15-May-2014 Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesLearning from sharks
Genetically engineered antibodies are deployed successfully in cancer diagnostics and therapy. Therapeutic antibodies against Alzheimer's disease and multiple sclerosis are currently under development. An important criterion when designing suitable antibody fragments is their stability. Comparing the antibodies of sharks with those of humans, a team of researchers at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen and the Helmholtz Zentrum Muenchen discovered stabilizing mechanisms that can also be applied to optimize custom-tailored antibodies for medical applications.
German Research Foundation, European Molecular Biology Organization, Swedish Research Council, National Institute of Health, German National Academic Foundation

Public Release: 15-May-2014 ScienceWest Antarctic Ice Sheet collapse is under way
Models using detailed topographic maps show that the collapse of the West Antarctic ice sheet has begun. Fast-moving Thwaites Glacier, which acts as a linchpin on the rest of the ice sheet, will likely disappear in a matter of centuries.
National Science Foundation, NASA

Public Release: 15-May-2014 Current BiologyHow octopuses don't tie themselves in knots
An octopus's arms are covered in hundreds of suckers that will stick to just about anything, with one important exception. Those suckers generally won't grab onto the octopus itself; otherwise, the impressively flexible animals would quickly find themselves all tangled up.

Public Release: 14-May-2014 Journal of Experimental BiologyScientists test hearing in Bristol Bay beluga whale population
How well do marine mammals hear in the wild? WHOI biologist Aran Mooney and his colleagues are the first to publish a study of hearing in a population of wild marine mammals.
Office of Naval Research

Public Release: 14-May-2014 Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological SciencesResearch reveals New Zealand sea lion is a relative newcomer
The modern New Zealand sea lion is a relative newcomer to our mainland, replacing a now-extinct, unique prehistoric New Zealand sea-lion that once lived here, according to a new study.
Marsden Fund

Public Release: 14-May-2014 Journal of Experimental BiologyScientists investigate the role of the 'silent killer' inside deep-diving animals
Scientists at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego and Sonoma State University have furthered science's understanding of carbon monoxide's natural characteristics and limitations by studying the gas in one of the world's best divers: the elephant seal.
Office of Naval Research, National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation

Public Release: 14-May-2014 ZooKeysExtinct relative helps to reclassify the world's remaining 2 species of monk seal
The recently extinct Caribbean monk seal was one of three species of monk seal in the world. Its relationship to the Mediterranean and Hawaiian monk seals, both living but endangered, has never been fully understood. Through DNA analysis and skull comparisons Smithsonian scientists and colleagues have now clarified the Caribbean species' place on the seal family tree and created a completely new genus. The team's findings are published in the scientific journal ZooKeys.

Public Release: 13-May-2014 PLOS ONESmithsonian scientists link unusual fish larva to new species of sea bass from Curacao
Identifying larval stages of marine fishes in the open ocean is difficult because the young fishes often bear little or no resemblance to the adults they will become. Confronted with a perplexing fish larva collected in the Florida Straits, Smithsonian scientists turned to DNA barcoding, which yielded an unexpected discovery -- a match between the mysterious fish larva and adults of a new species of sea bass discovered off the coast of Curacao.

Public Release: 13-May-2014 Nature CommunicationsCoral reefs are critical for risk reduction & adaptation
Stronger storms, rising seas, and flooding are placing hundreds of millions people at risk around the world, and big part of the solution to decrease those risks is just off shore. A new study finds that coral reefs reduce the wave energy that would otherwise impact coastlines by 97 percent.
US Geological Survey, Nature Conservancy, Pew Charitable Trusts

Public Release: 13-May-2014 Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of PhiladelphiaA tiny, toothy catfish with bulldog snout defies classification
Kryptoglanis shajii is a strange fish -- and the closer scientists look, the stranger it gets. This small subterranean catfish sees the light of day and human observers only rarely, when it turns up in springs, wells and flooded rice paddies. Drexel scientists have recently provided a detailed description of this fish's bizarre bone structures.

Public Release: 13-May-2014 Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental ResearchFollow that fish!
Research is helping unravel the complex interplay between alcohol and social behavior. In what may be the first experiment to allow ethanol-exposed and untreated zebrafish to swim freely together, those exposed to certain alcohol concentrations nearly doubled their swimming speeds when in a group--suggesting that the presence of peers substantially impacts social behavior. Most remarkably, unexposed fish modulated their behavior in the presence of a shoalmate exposed to alcohol.
National Science Foundation

Public Release: 13-May-2014 Nature CommunicationsConcerns raised over EU ban on ditching unwanted fish
New rules banning fishermen from throwing away unwanted fish they have caught could harm wildlife -- and fail to improve fish stocks, a University of Strathclyde report has found.

Public Release: 13-May-2014 Physics of FluidsThe physics of ocean undertow
Large storms produce strong undertows that can strip beaches of sand. By predicting how undertows interact with shorelines, researchers can build sand dunes and engineer other soft solutions to create more robust and sustainable beaches. New research presented in Physics of Fluids clears up some of the controversy in undertow modeling, so planners can assess erosion threats faster and more accurately.

Public Release: 12-May-2014 Geophysical Research LettersWest Antarctic glacier loss appears unstoppable, UCI-NASA study finds
A rapidly melting section of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet appears to be in irreversible decline, with nothing to stop the entire glacial basin from disappearing into the sea, according to researchers at the University of California, Irvine and NASA.